Best interest of a child was never warranted. It was designed to allow child trafficking and to undermine a parents constitutional rights. It’s a mechanism of family court that prolongs litigation and allows full legal and physical custody to be given to one parent while erasing the targeted parent with the help of highly paid court Appointed “experts”- often attorneys and psychologists who can share and trade different hats in different cases- from gal to parental supervisor, custody evaluator, parenting coordinator and the list goes on. It was legislation unwarranted, unneeded and wholly subjective without any parent being found to be unfit.
It is used to traffic children for money in family courts throughout the US.
The story told in this case is all too common and nothing is done to bring relief to the traumatized often suicidal and anxious children and teens after having their world ripped apart for money.
Absolutely agree — and thank you for saying what so many are afraid to say out loud.
The “best interest of the child” standard has become a Trojan horse. It sounds noble on the surface, but in practice it’s weaponized to override constitutional rights, justify endless litigation, and enrich a rotating cast of court-appointed “professionals” — many of whom, as you noted, wear multiple hats depending on the case and paycheck.
What’s worse is that no one has to be proven unfit. A parent can be erased simply because the court feels it's appropriate — not based on law, evidence, or real harm, but on subjective reports from paid evaluators or GALs with unchecked power.
You're also absolutely right that children are left emotionally wrecked by this. I've spoken to and written about too many parents and kids living in the aftermath — anxiety, depression, identity loss, even suicide — and the courts just move on to the next case.
This isn’t child protection. It’s systemic, state-sanctioned destruction of families. And you're right — it looks a lot like trafficking when you follow the money.
In some cases, fathers should stand and fight. But, in cases where the father is routinely denied, cannot get fair and affordable representation, and there is alienation going on, fathers should step away. It's called "tough love". If enough fathers, being deprived of a relationship with their child(ren) for many months or even years, decide that it's time to cut the cord, no one will dishonor them given the circumstances. There are those that will say it's "not in the best interest of the child", or the child will grow up hating you, etc. But, in those cases, it doesn't matter. The child will grow up hating you due to the parental alienation (when the Courts refuse to enforce their own orders). When more and more fathers cut the cord, and then file motions to terminate support since the courts willfully refuse to enforce their own orders for one side, then it will send a shock wave through the system. The money flow will start to dry up because fathers will no longer fight in the court system. They can threaten fathers with jail if they don't pay support, but never threaten mothers with jail for a worse abuse of the child--parental rights violations and parental alienation.
I've seen fathers deprived of their children for years, being hauled into court for not paying support. After being threatened with jail by the judge, the father says "Go ahead, jail me, I don't care. The government will support me, feed me, house me, do my clothes, give me the best free health care, etc. Once that is said, the judges back off from jailing. I've seen it too many times.
Or, when fathers are dragged into court for owing child support and the judge asks them how much money do they have on them. I've seen fathers say $50. The Judge says "Give me $100 and you get out of jail free". And, the father comes up with the $100. Or, in some cases, I've seen fathers say "I have nothing on me", and are released.
If fathers have a legitimate claim they don't have a relationship with their child(ren) because the ex-wife/ex-girlfiend won't let them see the child, the Courts become reluctant going after the fathers. That's when motions to terminate support come into play. Some states allow for termination or suspension of child support and/or alimony-spousal support. If enough cases are presented like this, and the child support money streams start to dry up, the Courts will have to course-correct at a point sooner rather than later.
Bruce, this is a powerful—and brutally honest—take. I agree with you: not every battle is winnable in this system, and for some fathers, stepping away isn't giving up—it's survival. It's tough love, like you said. It's protecting what little dignity and sanity they have left after being dragged through a machine that profits off their pain.
You’re right that the courts rarely enforce their own orders when it comes to visitation or parental rights, but they’ll sure bring out the hammer when it comes to money. If fathers start flipping the script—filing motions to terminate support when they’ve been cut off from their kids and publicly challenging the one-sided enforcement—we might finally start to expose the economic engine behind all of this.
What you described isn’t theoretical. I've seen it, too. Fathers pushed to the edge, mocked, jailed, treated as nothing more than ATMs—until they stop playing the game and call the bluff. The more of us who understand the system’s pressure points, the more likely we are to shift the tide. Thanks for laying it out so clearly.
Best interest of a child was never warranted. It was designed to allow child trafficking and to undermine a parents constitutional rights. It’s a mechanism of family court that prolongs litigation and allows full legal and physical custody to be given to one parent while erasing the targeted parent with the help of highly paid court Appointed “experts”- often attorneys and psychologists who can share and trade different hats in different cases- from gal to parental supervisor, custody evaluator, parenting coordinator and the list goes on. It was legislation unwarranted, unneeded and wholly subjective without any parent being found to be unfit.
It is used to traffic children for money in family courts throughout the US.
The story told in this case is all too common and nothing is done to bring relief to the traumatized often suicidal and anxious children and teens after having their world ripped apart for money.
Absolutely agree — and thank you for saying what so many are afraid to say out loud.
The “best interest of the child” standard has become a Trojan horse. It sounds noble on the surface, but in practice it’s weaponized to override constitutional rights, justify endless litigation, and enrich a rotating cast of court-appointed “professionals” — many of whom, as you noted, wear multiple hats depending on the case and paycheck.
What’s worse is that no one has to be proven unfit. A parent can be erased simply because the court feels it's appropriate — not based on law, evidence, or real harm, but on subjective reports from paid evaluators or GALs with unchecked power.
You're also absolutely right that children are left emotionally wrecked by this. I've spoken to and written about too many parents and kids living in the aftermath — anxiety, depression, identity loss, even suicide — and the courts just move on to the next case.
This isn’t child protection. It’s systemic, state-sanctioned destruction of families. And you're right — it looks a lot like trafficking when you follow the money.
In some cases, fathers should stand and fight. But, in cases where the father is routinely denied, cannot get fair and affordable representation, and there is alienation going on, fathers should step away. It's called "tough love". If enough fathers, being deprived of a relationship with their child(ren) for many months or even years, decide that it's time to cut the cord, no one will dishonor them given the circumstances. There are those that will say it's "not in the best interest of the child", or the child will grow up hating you, etc. But, in those cases, it doesn't matter. The child will grow up hating you due to the parental alienation (when the Courts refuse to enforce their own orders). When more and more fathers cut the cord, and then file motions to terminate support since the courts willfully refuse to enforce their own orders for one side, then it will send a shock wave through the system. The money flow will start to dry up because fathers will no longer fight in the court system. They can threaten fathers with jail if they don't pay support, but never threaten mothers with jail for a worse abuse of the child--parental rights violations and parental alienation.
I've seen fathers deprived of their children for years, being hauled into court for not paying support. After being threatened with jail by the judge, the father says "Go ahead, jail me, I don't care. The government will support me, feed me, house me, do my clothes, give me the best free health care, etc. Once that is said, the judges back off from jailing. I've seen it too many times.
Or, when fathers are dragged into court for owing child support and the judge asks them how much money do they have on them. I've seen fathers say $50. The Judge says "Give me $100 and you get out of jail free". And, the father comes up with the $100. Or, in some cases, I've seen fathers say "I have nothing on me", and are released.
If fathers have a legitimate claim they don't have a relationship with their child(ren) because the ex-wife/ex-girlfiend won't let them see the child, the Courts become reluctant going after the fathers. That's when motions to terminate support come into play. Some states allow for termination or suspension of child support and/or alimony-spousal support. If enough cases are presented like this, and the child support money streams start to dry up, the Courts will have to course-correct at a point sooner rather than later.
Bruce, this is a powerful—and brutally honest—take. I agree with you: not every battle is winnable in this system, and for some fathers, stepping away isn't giving up—it's survival. It's tough love, like you said. It's protecting what little dignity and sanity they have left after being dragged through a machine that profits off their pain.
You’re right that the courts rarely enforce their own orders when it comes to visitation or parental rights, but they’ll sure bring out the hammer when it comes to money. If fathers start flipping the script—filing motions to terminate support when they’ve been cut off from their kids and publicly challenging the one-sided enforcement—we might finally start to expose the economic engine behind all of this.
What you described isn’t theoretical. I've seen it, too. Fathers pushed to the edge, mocked, jailed, treated as nothing more than ATMs—until they stop playing the game and call the bluff. The more of us who understand the system’s pressure points, the more likely we are to shift the tide. Thanks for laying it out so clearly.